Corner blocks for intermediate plates in plate heat exchangers



M1a1y12,1970 E1,l PE'DERSEN 3,511,311

CORNERBLOCKS FOR INTERMEDIATE PLATES IN PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS Filed March l1, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 AWM/701? May 12, :19,720 B. Px-:DERsl-:N

CORNER BLOCKS FORv INTERMEDIATE PLATES IN PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March l1, 1968 @A m M N S r k A m 1 W E J 1 1 f DI M w 1 r w 8 v m m m 55.@ A \u WM. um.. Tu V A ww .May12',197o- 'BPEDER-SEN 3,511,311

` CIORNER BLOCKS FOR INTERMEDIATE PLATES IN PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS Enea March 11, 1968 7 3 sheets-sheet s United States Patent O 3,511,311 CORNER BLOCKS FOR INTERMEDIATE PLATES IN PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS Bjrn Pedersen, Kolding, Denmark, assignor to De Danske Mejeriers Maskinfabrik A.m.b.A., Kolding, Denmark, a limited liability company of Denmark Filed Mar. 1l, 1968, Ser. No. 712,056 Claims priority, application Denmark, Mar. 17, 1967, 1,434/67 Int. Cl. F28b 7/00 U.S. Cl. 165-78 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A connecting plate in a plate heat exchanger has transverse end members and longitudinally extending side members, the side members having an extension that projects beyond the end members and engages a conduit section. The conduit section is also connected to the end member at a point spaced from the extension, with the conduit lsection and the end member spaced apart between the extension and this latter point of connection.

The invention relates to an improvement concerning corner blocks or conduit sections for the intermediate plates in plate heat exchangers, wherein the block or section is removably connected to the intermediate plate at one of the corners thereof.

In the case of plate heat exchangers, e.g. for the treatment of milk, wherein a plurality of heat exchanging plate are assembled into a stack, it will often be desirable to be able to supply to or remove from the stack liquid or other fluids, e.g. steam. For this purpose it is known to utilize the corner blocks for the tubing connections, through which the said media can be fed to or discharged from the plate stack. The blocks may also have bores, e.g. for an air escape valve or a temperature detector, or they may merely constitute corner members without tubing connections, bores or ducts.

Examples of apparatus of this type are disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2,934,321, Apr. 26, 1960, whose disclosure is referred to for a fuller explanation of the structure and operation of such apparatus.

The present invention has for its object a particularly advantageous improvement of such a corner block and its positioning, said corner block being attached according to the invention to an extension of the relevant side piece of the plate, which protrudes beyond the end piece of the intermediate plate, as well as being attached at a distance therefrom to the said end piece.

This arrangement -makes possible a particularly simple and cheap construction of the intermediate plate as well as of the corner block. As regards the intermediate plate it will be sulicient to provide same with the said extension, which according to the invention may also be integral with the side piece, and with connecting means, e.g. in the form of a screw-fastening in the said end piece of the plate. The simple arrangement of the block distinguishes the construction according to the invention from known constructions, wherein the intermediate plates are provided with special corner recesses wherein the corner blocks are placed. The block can easily be produced, e.g. from circularly cylindrical tubular material. For the purpose of obtaining a safe connection With the end piece of the intermediate plate the corner block according to the invention may be constructed or provided with a supporting surface abutting against the outer side of the end piece, either -by providing the block with a attening at the relevant place or by mounting the block on the end piece with the use of a Washer or the like member offering the desired supporting surface.

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The arrangement of the corner block in conformity with the invention will make the block occupy a position on the outside of the intermediate plate. Therefore, according to the invention, it may be provided with carrying or guiding means or both for the positioning of the intermediate plate in the plate heat exchanger and thus at the same time serve the purpose of mounting or guiding the intermediate plate in the heat exchanger.

According to the invention of particularly simple connection between the corner block and the extension of the said side piece of the intermediate plate is provided when in its peripheral surface the block has at least one outwardly open, angular recess, into which the said extension protrudes. By providing the corner block with more than one recess it is possible in a simple manner to arrange the block to occupy different positions relative to the intermediate plate, so that c g. the position of a socket with which the block may Ibe provided may be changed from vertical to horizontal or vice versa.

If the corner block is provided with at least two recesses the second recess may be used for the positioning of carrying or guiding means of the kind mentioned in the foregoing, seeing that according to the invention a distance piece may be inserted in the second recess, said piece abutting a carrying bar or a guiding bar or the like member of the heat exchanger, the corner block being attached to the end piece between said recesses.

According to the invention a suitable arrangement of the attaching and connecting means of the lblock comprises the formation or the placement of the carrying or guiding means on the corner block opposite its connection with the said extension, the attachment of the block to the end piece of the intermediate plate being on one side, and one or more ducts or sockets provided in or on the corner block and establishing connection with the interior of the heat exchanger, being on the opposite side of a connecting line between said means and said connection.

The invention will now be explained in more detail, reference being had to the drawing wherein FIG. 1 is a schematical view of an intermediate plate with corner blocks according to one embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a similar plate with a second embodiment of the corner blocks, as seen partly from the end and partly in section, and

FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the corner block mounted on an intermediate plate which is suspended in a way difering from the one shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Two corner blocks or conduit sections 14 areclamped to an intermediate plate 10 comprising a bracing framework 12, one of said blocks being provided with a socket 16. The blocks are manufactured from circularly cylindrical material having a comparatively large thickness of wall.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 each corner block 14 has a rectangular recess 18, which is engaged by an extension 20 of the side piece 22 of the plate 10. The parts 20 and 22 are integral. A xing screw 24 extends through the extension 20 into the block 14.

Furthermore, the corner block 14 is clamped to the end piece 26 of the intermediate plate 10 by means of a tightening screw 28 which extends through the end piece and into the block. A washer 30 is positioned between the lblock 14 and the end piece 26 and constitutes a supporting member with supporting surfaces for the abutment of the Iblock 14 against the end piece 26.

The corner block 14 is also provided with carrying or guiding means in the form of a pin 32 with a roller 34 provided on the side of the block opposite the recess 18. The roller is intended to abut against. a carrying or guiding bar or the like member, not shown, of the heat'exchanger. The shown embodiment of the block is specially designed for suspending the intermediate plate by means of the members 32, 34 from a carrying bar having triangular section.

FIG. 1 furthermore illustrates that the shown embodiment of the corner Iblock 14 can be used at all four corners ofthe intermediate plate.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 the corner Iblock 14 is provided with two rectangular, outwardly open recesses 36 and 38. In the block shown on the right side of the gure, a distance piece 40 is mounted in the recess 36, said piece being provided with a slide shoe 42 which abuts against a carrying bar 44 for the plate stack of the heat exchanger or against a guiding bar 46 for the plates, dependent on whether the corner block 14 has been positioned on the intermediate plate at the top or at the bottom. The recess 38 is engaged by an extension 48 of a side piece 50 of the intermediate plate.

A threaded hole 52 is provided in the corner block 14 between the recesses 36 and 38 and is engaged by a screw 54 which is attached to the intermediate plate 10, and Iby means of which the corner Iblock 14 is clamped against the end piece 56 of the intermediate plate. Around the threaded hole 52 the corner block 14 is provided with a plane supporting surface 58, and between said surface and the end piece 56 there is provided a loose washer 60 with supporting surfaces for the clamping of the corner block against the end piece.

In the shown embodiment the corner block is provided with two threaded holes 52 and 52a, which are so olf-set in relation to each other in the outer cylinder surface of the block and are so placed in relation to the recesses 36 and 38 that by turning the corner block 14 through 180 about the axis of the socket 16 plus turning through 90 about the axis of the cylinder surface it is possible to change the position of the socket 16 from vertical to horizontal or vice versa.

In the position of the block 14 shown to the left in the drawing, the recess 36 cooperates with an extension 48a of the relevant side piece 50a of the intermediate plate, while the recess 38 cooperates With the distance piece 40a.

One and the same corner block can also be used at either side of the intermediate plate in that way that the corner block is turned through 180 about the vertical axis, FIG. 2 to the right, of the socket 16 when being shifted from the right to the left or vice versa.

Recesses 62 are provided in the end surfaces of the corner block 14 to cooperate with distance knobs on adjacent heat exchanging plates in the plate stack.

The size of the angles a is 22, and of the angle 46.

FIG. 3 shows that special carrying or guiding means for the positioning of the intermediate plate in the heat exchanger may also be lacking at the corner blocks. In this example the intermediate plate which is of the kind shown in FIG. 1, is secured to the rod 35 by means of straps 35 attached to the end pieces 26. The corner 4 blocks 14 are lacking the carrying or guiding means corresponding to the members 32 and 34, FIG. 1, or 36, 38, 40 and 42, FIG. 2, without departing from the invention.

In all the shown embodiments the corner block may be provided with a plurality of sockets, e.g. two, one of which is connected to the plate stack section on one side of the intermediate plate, and the other to the plate stack section on the other side of the intermediate plate.

Besides the shown circularly cylindrical section the corner 'blocks may have other sectional shapes, e.g. polygonal.

Having thus fully described my invention I claim as new and desire to secure -by Letters Patent:

1. In a plate type heat exchanger the combination of a conduit section for uid flow to or from said heat exchanger, and an intermediate plate, said conduit section connected to at least one of the corners of said plate, said plate having a transversely extending end member and a longitudinally extending side member that meet at said at least one corner, said side member having an extension that projects beyond said end member and engages said conduit section, and means for releasably securing together said conduit section and said end member at a point on said end member spaced from said side member.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said conduit section having an outwardly opening recess in which said extension is disposed.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, said conduit section having a plurality of said recesses in any of which said extension is selectively receivable, said securing means being adapted releasably to interconnect said conduit section and said end member in any of a plurality of rotated positions of said conduit section and intermediate plate relative to each other.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which said extension is an integral part of said side member.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said end member and said conduit section being spaced apart between said securing means and said extension.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and fastening mean removably fastening said conduit section to said extension.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and means for positioning said intermediate plate in a said heat exchanger, said positioning means being engaged with said conduit section.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,934,321 4/1960 Hytte 165-166 X ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner T. W. STREULE, JR., Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. -167 

